Grave No.12 - The Tennyson Graves


The following is an article by Mick Twyman regarding this grave and
illustrates not only the respectability of the town but also the teamwork that
has been required by local historians and the ‘Friends of Margate Cemetery,
over many years, needed to produce this publication." 

There have been cryptic references for years (although sadly not detailed
ones) that sisters of Alfred Lord Tennyson lie buried at our cemetery, but the
passing of time has eroded not only the memory but also the stone and despite
intensive research (not to mention crawling about in blackthorn thicket of the
old part of the cemetery by our resolute and very determined ‘Legs’ Beeching)
it was beginning to look as if the location of those graves had been lost forever.
I am now happy to tell you that is no longer the case. The graves are found and
despite the inscription being almost totally weathered away on one, we know
just who it is that lies at rest beneath them. Our man ‘Legs’ had found them
years ago while carrying out research and his memory told him that there
were two graves side by side which were , he thought, positioned alongside
the wall between the old part of the cemetery and the Crematorium, but his
memory was only part correct, as his fruitless searching in the blackthorn
convinced him! However he had managed to find a death notice in Keble’s
Gazette after much effort (where would we without him?) which told of the
passing of one Mrs Emily Jesse, on January the 24th 1887, at her home in
Sweyn Road. The clue to her maiden name and relationship to Alfred Lord
Tennyson was the recording of the fact that she was the second daughter of 
the late Reverend George Clayton Tennyson, LL.D., Rector of Somersby,
County of Lincoln, he being Alfred’s father. She was 74 years old when she
died. Further searching by our man in the Keble’s Gazette revealed an article
on her life, which had been in ‘The Athenaeum’ magazine of the 29th January.
It told how she had been Emily Tennyson and that she had been intending to
marry Arthur Hallam, but some years after his untimely death she had
married Lieutenant Jesse, Royal Navy, a man who had been on the Polar
expedition of Sir John Ross and who was described as a brave man who had
also distinguished himself by saving life on the sea. After living in various
places on the Continent, he was seconded to the Coastguard at Tenby, where
he became Captain then Commander Jesse. The couple afterwards lived at
Hampstead, Carshalton and Margate.

~
We were very fortunate that our good friends and Society members Vera
Jenkins and Reg Currie, who are also stalwart volunteers of the Cemetery
Trust, took a keen interest in the search for the graves and it was Vera who told
me that of Emily Jesse was located – not where Alf Beeching had thought it
was, but adjacent to the Chapel headquarters of the volunteers! So we were
halfway there and if Alf was right in his recollection, the grave of the other
sister should be close to hand. With consummate dedication to the task in
hand Vera lay flat on her back in the mud for me (what a pest I am!)

and peered under a stone which was leaning forward at an acute angle in order to
try and read the inscription. First results seemed promising as she thought the
stone bore the word Jesse and with the help of Reg and another volunteer, Tom
Watson, the stone was laboriously uprighted. Sadly, it turned out that the
‘Jesse’ was really ‘Jesus’ once it was in a readable position, so it was back to
the drawing board and the scanning of other adjacent graves. Then a stroke of
luck occurred! ‘Legs’ had told me that he remembered from twenty years ago
that the married name of the other sister was Ker and there was a stone nearby
to the Jesse grave which although badly weathered and almost now devoid of
script, still bore that name! Thanks to Alf and his researches we are now able
to recover what that inscription once stated :- ‘In Loving memory of Mary Ker
who died at Margate on April 4th 1884 aged 73 years. Wife of the Honourable
Justice Alan Ker, Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of Jamaica and eldest
sister of the Poet Laureate’. So there we have it, just a few yards from the
chapel base of the volunteers who work so hard to keep the Cemetery
accessible lie buried two sisters of Tennyson!
The word ‘Puisne’ comes from the French and means chief or all-powerful,
which means that Mary Tennyson had married the top Judge of Jamaica. At
the time of her death she resided in Dalby Road, not far from her sister’s
house. Alfred Lord Tennyson was created Poet Laureate in 1850 and remained
as such until his death in 1892. Had it not been for the teamwork displayed by
all concerned this information would not have been recovered, but now
visitors can be shown the exact spots where the Tennyson girls lie and another
little piece of history is recorded for posterity.”
Retrace your steps back to the chapel and facing it turn right and take the first
path to your right (alternatively find your way to the right from in front of the
Tennyson Graves). Amongst a dozen graves under the canopies of the trees on
the left hand side is one grave set back on the second row with a small cross
on the top and four columns supporting the columns of the main memorial.
This is the grave of George Yeates Hunter.